summer's coming to an end

 look at this bounty from our weekend at the lodge! our kind neighbor shared the zucchini, peppers and tomatoes with us- (so nice of him!) and the flowers are from my garden. we have a small orchard~ about 6 apple trees and 1 plum tree can be considered an orchard if you really stretch your imagination right? - and the pretty little plums and apple in the picture are from those trees.

we've been excitedly watching our pumpkins, watermelons and sweet corn-  waiting for the weekend when we went up north and they were ready to sample. we knew it was a gamble- we did- but this weekend we were pretty sure would be  "the weekend". i brought extra butter and our mouths were watering just thinking about the taste of corn we'd grown ourselves!

there are some pretty happy critters up north right now too. they found themselves an OLD COUNTRY BUFFET folks!!! yep-they did. they found it all. and they ate it all too. we found the dried up shells of our beautiful melons and the outer casings of the big orange jack-o-lanterns we'd pictured. the sweet corn? stripped.
oh well....we were disgusted for about an hour and then we just had to laugh about it. all the hours of tilling, all the hand weeding and watering, the fertilizer and the dreams- fed now to the animals that share our land. we knew it was a gamble and next year that fence will be higher let me tell you!  : )

saturday i came in from outside and found my sweet grandson and his puppy sound asleep on the concrete floor after a morning of playing together. it looked sooo uncomfortable- almost like a crime scene (who sleeps with their head right on the hard cement?) i carefully lifted seth's head and slid a blanket under it and on they slept....precious aren't they? all that good country air just wore them out.

 

 

 

do you remember that fabulous candelabra i bought at an occasional sale last spring? well with a nip of fall in the air, i lit all the candles and got a taste of how beautiful it's going to be when we are nestled in for winter meals.

 

 

our friends bob and leslie came for sunday dinner and brought us all kinds of

goodies- not the least of which was this spectacular bouquet of flowers in an owl vase!

 

 

now whooooooooooooo wouldn't love a friend like that?

 

 

and like always, i'll share my weekend window bouquet with you all~

 

 

it's the final week of vacation before school is back in session everywhere~

if you're a momma with chickadees still at home- soak it up,

drink it in, luxuriate in the final lazy days of summer.

it's been great hasn't it?

 

xo, beth

 

i take photos.

lots of them.  here's some favorites from my files.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 i had fun putting this together,
i could just keep posting you know... there are billions to choose from-what's that you say? you have to get busy now- you've got more to do today then just look at my blog? well all right then- adios friends!



but thanks for looking!


xo, beth

 

 

 

 

 

bless your little heart~

 

 

 

 

yesterday...

i framed a teeny tiny heart shaped rock i found on the shore

with a sweet little sentiment by e.e. cummings,

~a favorite of mine.

 

 

 i carry your heart, i carry your heart in my heart.

 

 

*******

i'm pretty certain this rock wasn't a chip off the old block in

perfect heart form.

like our hearts, it has most likely been battered and

tossed around a fair amount-

but look~ now it's all smooth and perfect. 

 

 

 

 

remember  

that marvelous old typewriter i got for $5?

yep- so worth it- i typed my little quote with it.

be blessed today

********

 beth

who hid my bucket list?

oh really...who am i kidding here. i have no bucket list.

i want to have one though i am not a plan ahead kind of girl- i seem to function best when i stay in the day.

i love that a lot of people are dreamers. i on the other hand am a realist-i will pick apart the best of movie plots-finding loop holes and things that don't add up. i want things to add up and if they don't make perfect sense i will complain and beg someone to agree with me that that just "could not have happened"! my mind seldom wanders to the future and all that is to come.... i guess that just plain overwhelms me.

just for tonight though i am going to search my soul and try to be just a bit of a dreamer....so here goes nothing~

MY BUCKET LIST~

someday i'd like to go to tuscany. i want to ride a scooter through little towns

with cobblestone streets. I'd like to stop for wine and sharp cheeses along the way.

i dream of moving to a smaller town again- and finding a house that

makes my heart sing. said house would be charming and cottagey with a small yard & a 

picket fence that i can garden up against.

i'd like to learn to do yoga. and actually be able to physically do it!

(and have the tenacity to practice it).

living near water would be a huge bonus.

holding a couple newborn grand babies would most surely

be the best part of the rest of my life.

oh this is hard....i already admitted it- i am not a

dreamer!

o.k.~i'd like to have my hair grown out-long enough to

be able to wear in a bun. or some style that requires nothing more

of me than washing, air drying and throwing it up in the a.m.

i'm goina need a passport.

i'm starting to pine for a new camera. i take photos almost

every day-without fail and i think i've worn mine out.

learning to speak another language is on my list.

& new carpet. i know this seems dumb-but hey it's my list!


i'd like to visit north carolina and maine again and maybe alaska.


i'd like to see a loon with her babies on her back. oh and a real live puffin too.
(not in a zoo)   : )

******************


alright. i'm exhausted -that wore me out.

i'm just a simple girl with a few dreams in her head.

not so many- but that's enough for me for now.

*are you the kind of person that is always dreaming? planning ahead?
thinking of the future and all you hope to do and see and accomplish yet in this one
wild and precious life?

i would LOVE to see your list.


xo, b.

p.s. i want to go see the movie hope springs tomorrow. have you seen it?
*love me some meryl streep



bracelets

i've had the supplies to try making these

bracelets for several months. finally got around to it yesterday!

i'm pretty darned excited bout them~

they are lightweight aluminum, will not tarnish and are so comfortable to wear, i forget i have mine on. 

i will custom design them, and the price is right~

a mere $14. i know.......Christmas is coming- & they'd make

a grand gift-

i'm without shame people:

send all orders to~

rosewoodfloral@hotmail.com

graci!

**************

xo, beth

reliving the moments~

a week ago today i was heading to this magical place.

these rocking chairs, this porch...the sound of lake superior waves

crashing into shore behind me.

it was good.

my dear, generous friend let us stay in their home that's for sale on the

north shore. it's empty and they've moved out~ but we filled it up with fun, laughter, blow up beds & snacks.

 it will most likely be the last time i will have the pleasure of sleeping there. it helped me have closure.

we threw our blow up beds right in the living room and created a makeshift

bedside table for reading magazines before sleep~

************

sunday morning we trekked to two harbors and had a delicious breakfast

at the vanilla bean cafe.

on the way we encountered what may have been one of THE best

yard sales of the season. i wish i would have taken a picture of the

back of my jeep bulging with quilts, a floor lamp, books, a small wooden stool,

dishes, a tray, a fan, a hotplate, and i can't even remember what else. for once, the

kind proprietors were all about just getting rid of their stuff. nothing had a price on

it and we'd ask about an item, (and ask we did!) they'd smile and say~ "oh 50 cents". AGHHH~ "i'll take it, how much is this?"  "oh how about a dollar?"  SCORE!!!

this picture cracks me up. it's become somewhat of a tradition

to apply facial masks when we have a girls weekend. when

maggie opened the lid-it exploded!  hee hee

here she is- all fresh faced, gorgeous and ready to head down to the shore~

i've already showed you my incredible stash of beach glass-but girlfriend cannot

help herself- i always come draggin home with a bag of rocks too. i've loved pretty rocks since i was a wee girl. anything even remotely heart shaped gets a free ride back to the twin cities.

don't you just love this picture?

this peaceful creature found temporary shelter on maggie's finger.

(*butterflys remind her of her sweet grandmother nini -up in heaven.)

this cool rock? yep it's in my yard.

we spent most of the weekend with our feet in the water and our butts in the sand.

a favorite, hilarious memory was an old man and his dog who walked right in front of us and stopped with his very aged husky and said~ "say hello to the ladies angel!" then looked at us and said~ "this is angel... she's a lesbian. i have another dog too, a female chihuahua. the little dog had a false pregnancy with angel and gained 3 lbs."

i could tell you about a few other close encounters of the 3rd kind but that's for another time. :   )

we do encounter some of the funniest situations. it makes for GREAT memories!

and this is the wonderful house we spent the weekend in.

it's for sale.

could one of you buy it pleeeease? the price has been cut

almost in half and it's a beauty!!! think about it- we could have it just

for girls weekends. for shizzle!!!!

 i would come-promise!

my dear friend surprised us and drove up with her own blow up bed and spent one of the nights too. we loved staying in your casa leslie- but without you living there this house is

just a house. we had so many wonderful hours there together, working, playing, and celebrating a wedding. it was the best of times and i will miss it, but how lucky were we?

i'll be home this weekend for the first time in a long time- don't know if i'll

quite know what to do with myself. there's cleaning and organizing EVERYWHERE that is crying for my attention but that doesn't even sort of sound fun after last weekend now does it?  back to reality~~~CHEERIO FRIENDS!!!

xo, beth

minnehaha~haha

so.... late last night~ after a fun evening dining & gabbing with girl friends outside sea salt restaurant at minnehaha falls, we said goodbye, hugged tightly and started to our cars. then someone decided to walk over and look down at the falls. then we decided to take a picture of the 4 of us that were still there. then that one picture turned into a full blown post-senior picture session. we ALL thought it was a particularly good hair night for each of us- and i concluded that we look SO MUCH better in the dark that that is the only way i will ever have my picture taken again. amen.

********************

we thought it was a wrap and then someone-(i think it was the funster

on the right) suggested we go take pictures on the rickshaws for rent. : )

by the time we wrapped up the fun we practically needed to eat again.

p.s. the wait for food at sea salt was so long that cheri

practically gnawed her own arm off. if you head there to eat i

suggest you bring appetizers in your purse~

thanks for bringing your real life ballerina along cheri-so fun to see her-home from the new york city ballet company!

hello beautiful lexi!

keep it sunny today~

xo, beth

tumbled glass...

i have so many fun pictures from my weekend on the north shore that i can't wait to share more but for now...here is a shot of my beach glass. my friends and i cannot WAIT to set our arses in the sand and start digging when we get up to lake superior. it's always a contest to see who can find the most beach glass. we sit for hours with our heads down, digging and squeeling with delight when we unearth a particularly fabulous piece. heart shaped rocks also call to me.  i also like unusual rocks. and driftwood. and smooth rocks. oh and agates.

and did i mention piano keys from the titanic?

for now tho- it's back to reality. i must get ready for work and that really cuts into my

bogging time ladies- anybody else ready to retire? 

xo, beth